Canning machine



June 18,- 1929.

C. H. AYARS CANNING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 12. 1927 III/I VIII,

5 WA. m N

Cka

WITNESSES V, I v r I June 18, 1929. c. H. Avms @Qmme MACHINE Filed Feb. 12, 192'? Z-Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR: filmrlasfiflyars,

WJTNES SE5 ATTORNEY.

Patented June 153, 1929.

CHAR-LES H. AYARS, OF SALEM, NEW JERSEY.

CANNIN'G MACHINE.

Application filed February 12, 1927. Serial No. 167,656.

My invention relates to canning machinery and more particularly to a machine adapted to till cans with small granular material, such as peas and the like.

In the machines now in use, the material has tendency to pack in the hopper and to bridge over the outlet therefrom, thus presenting to the operator a problemot keeping an even iiow of material so that all cans will be properly filled.

An ob'ect 01. my invention is to provide certain improvements in this type of canning machine whereby an even flow of material is assured and thus eliminate one of the vexa tious problems of the canning industry.

Another object of my invention is to provide improvedmeans tor imparting rotation to the hopper and to the measuring units.

The above objects are accomplished by providing in a can feeding machine a base plate having an opening and an adjustable supporting arm carried by the said base plate by which a fixed plate is supported, together with a hopper rotatable in one direction on the fixed plate and a measuring wheel having upper and lower sections and rotatable in a direction opposite to that of a hopper, said measuring wheel having telescoping units adapted to register alternately with the hopper and with an opening in the base plate. A fixed plate is also provided with guides supporting the upper section of the measuring wheel and the supporting arm is adjustable to change the elevation of the fixed plate and upper section of the measuring wheel thereby changing the capacity of the measuring unit.

Figure 1' is a central vertical section through a machine embodying my invention, taken on line 11 on Figure 2, one part appearing beyond the section line being shown partly in section to show the interior con struction,

Figure 2 a sectional plan view taken on the line 2- 2 on Figure 1,

Figure 3 a sectional view taken on the line 33 on Figure 1,

Figure 1 a section view on line tl of Figure 2, and s 50 Figure 5 a sectional view on line 5--5 of Figure 2.

As my invention relates to the filling hopper and measuring wheel, only parts composing and associated with these elements will befillustrated and described; the other parts of the machine being well known in the art.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, 5 represents a base plate which may be sup ported in any suitable manner as by legs or standards and is provided with the usual discharge opening and base or bed plate this also having the usual discharge opening coinciding with that in the base plate, disposed on top thereof and is provided with an annular flange 7 within which a lower section 01? the measuring wheel 8 is rotatably mounted. This section consists of a plurality of cups 9 joined together; the inner edges of cups 9 approaching one another to form a hub 10 which is bored to receive a driving disk 11 to which it is rigidly secured by a key 12. The section of the measuring cup here described cooperates with the upper section, the cups of which telescope with the cups of the lower section to provide a measuring cup of variable capacity. The nature of this second section will be presently set forth. This key is held against movement by means of a set screw 12 threaded through hub 10 from the inside of one of the cups 9 and disk 11 is secured to a power driven shaft 13 by means of a tapered pin, as plainly shown in Figure 1. Above the measuring wheel is located'the feed hopper 22 having an annular housing 21 secured thereto and provided with a downwardly directed marginal flange formed with an internal gear integrally formed therewith.

The upper half 14 of measuring wheel 8 is provided with a plurality of cups 15, which telescope within cups 9, and with a central hub 16 to which is keyed a pinion 17 disposed above a fixed plate 18. An idler gear 19 is rotatably mounted on plate 18 and meshes with an internal gear 20 and with the pinion 17. The housing 21 forms the bottom flange of the feed hopper 22, which' is preferably made of light material and trusto-conical in shape.

An annular member 23 preferably made of cast metal is secured to the upper side of plate 18 and constitutes a support for the hopper, said member being received within the housing 21 with its periphery disposed adjacent the inside of the teeth of gear 20 with only a slight clearance allowed therebetween, while its upper side bears against a shoulder 24, formed on housing 21, and thereby supports hopper 22 as suggested above. A gear chamber 25 is formed in support 23 and houses pinion 17 and idler gear 19. The inner face of support 23 aligns with the lower corner of housing 21 so as to afford a smooth passageway for the material to be canned and at the same time prevents any of such material from coming in contact with the gearing. At the point where chamber 25 is formed, a piece 26, substantially triangular in cross section, is positioned on top of chainbcr 25 and against the inner face of housing 21 so that a sloping surface will be presented to the material in the hopper.

A boss 27 is formed on the under side t base plate 5 and is adapted to receive a column 28 which is seen-rely held therein by means of suitable set screws and extends upwardly as plainly shown. A support arm 29 is slidably mounted on column 28 and has an outstanding flange 29 securely fastened to plate 18. The upper end of shaft 28 is bored and threaded to receive the threaded portion of a screw shaft 30 journaled in the top of support arm 29 and provided with a hand wheel 31, thus supporting fixed plate 18 relatively to base plate 5.

Upper-half ll of measuring wheel 8 is supported by means of guides 32 secured to the under side of lugs 82" formed on plate 18. One of these lugs is shown in its proper location in Figures 2 and 8 but guides 32 are shown approximately 90 out of their true positions in Figurel in order to clearly illustrate how section 1 1 is supported.

As the lower halt of measuring w'heel 8 is secured to the upper end of shaft 13, rotation of this shaft will cause rotation of the upper half of the measuring wheel, due to the telescoping of cups 9 and 15, and conse quently impart rotation to pinion 17, idler gear 19 and'internal gear 20, thus rotating hopper 22 in a direction opposite to that of measuring wheel 8. In this manner the motion of the material, as it is about to leave the hopper, is such that packing in the hopper and bridging over the outlet is impossible and a full measure of material is delivered to each and every can.

Supporting arm 29 is of very sturdy eonst'i'uction and rigidly holds plate 18 and its associated parts in the position desired and allows plate 18 to be raised or lowered to the proper measure of material for each can.

The various parts are further held in alignment as -follows: Disk 11 is pinned to shaft 13 and the lower section of measuring wheel 8 is keyed to the disk; flange 7 surrounds cups 9 and engages their outer edges; cups 15 telescope with cups 9-and the hub 10 fits in a bore in plate 18 while the outer edge of section 14 is turned to fit in a counterbore in plate 18; hopper 22 cannot move radially as internal gear 20 would engage support 23. Hopper 22 is further held in position by a plurality of angular guides 33 which have one leg bolted to projections on plate 18 and the other leg overlapping housing 21. Guides 33 are shown in their proper location in Fig ures 2 and 3 while one off them is shown approximately 90 out of position in Figure 1 in order to illustrate its association with housing 21 and plate 18.

The apparatus as illustrated may be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of the invention as herein set forth and hereafter claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is a A can filling machine including a base plate having an opening; an adjustable supporting arm carried by the base plate; a fixed plate carried by the supporting arm; a hop per rota-table in one direction on the fixed plate; a measuring wheel, consisting of an upper and a lower section rotatable in the opposite direction between the fixed plate and the base plate; telescoping measuring units formed in the measuring wheel and adapted to register alternately with the hopper and the opening in the base plate, and guides secured to the fixed plate and supporting the upper section of the measuring wheel whereby adjusting the suippor-ting arm will change the elevation of the fixed plate and upper section ot the measuring wheel and change the capacity of the measuring units.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

CHARLES H. AYARS. 

